Printables and digital bits for crafters and creators

digital scrapbooking

Oh! I’m the worst! I can’t keep up with this blog and I can’t force myself to schedule enough posts ahead of time to make up for my laziness. My goal this year was to get ahead of the game with both the shop and the blog. I’m batting whatever the worst that you can bat is. I don’t know enough about baseball to use it for analogies.

What I’ve been working on: I finally got some St. Patrick’s Day done!

I’m thinking I need to work on some new preview images for patterns like these. They aren’t repeats, so the little preview slivers I use now really don’t give you a real idea of what each paper looks like.

What I’ve been reading: I’ve gotten a lot of reading done. I finished Dietland by Sarai Walker and really enjoyed it. There were a few tiny things I took issue with, but over all it was really good. I also finished Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay, so I’ve only got one more of the Neopolitan Novels left.

And just last night I finished up the March trilogy. I really, really want more people to read those books. In reading them, I realize I knew the basic history of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, but it was never really brought home for me. And I’ve lived in Mississippi my whole life. The story is home. It’s a really powerful story and it didn’t happen all that long ago.

What I’ve been watching: I’ve mentioned before my love of all things McElroy… but now they have a television show on Seeso and it’s the best thing to ever happen to streaming internet comedy. There’s a whole episode up on YouTube and you have no reason not to watch it. Do yourself a favor.

What I’ve been working on: Guys! My shop’s been open for a year now! Here’s some (digital) cupcakes to celebrate!

I’m not exactly an e-commerce powerhouse, but I’m happy with the growth I’ve seen in the past year. There was (and still are) a lot of lessons to be learned, but I’m optimistic. I started this endeavor as an experiment and went into it fully prepared to fail. But… I didn’t! Not yet, anyway. Hooray!

I’m planning on doing a whole separate post on what I’ve learned in my first year, so stay tuned for that. Until then, happy birthday!

What I’m listening to: I just started listening to You Must Remember This, a podcast about “the secret and/or forgotten history of Hollywood’s first century.” I listened to the series on Joan Crawford (which is still ongoing) and really enjoyed it* and right now I’m listening to her series on “Charles Manson’s Hollywood.” (Which, sitting here alone in the house waiting for my husband to get home from work, I realize now might be a bad idea.) Nightmares notwithstanding, it’s also a very good story. They’re all thoroughly researched and contain SO much detail. I love so much detail.

*Despite the narrator’s tendency to read Crawford’s quotes with a not-great Transatlantic accent that was accurately described by a friend as sounding like Janet Snakehole. You’ve been warned.

What I’m watching: I just finished up the new season of Difficult People. Such a fun show. I’m also devoting a significant amount of my time to RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2, of course. This whole thing where the top two have to choose one of the bottom three to eliminate is rough. All (most. shade.) of the queens on this season are SO GOOD. How can you choose a bottom three much less send someone home? I can’t even. I’m sure my favorite, Katya is going to go far. I’m worried about my other favorite, Phi Phi O’Hara, because they seem determined to give her the villain edit again. (Look. I love Alyssa Edwards. You love Alyssa Edwards. But Phi Phi ain’t wrong when she says that if you’re trapped in a room with her, a little Alyssa goes a looooong way.)

Well, I thought it’d been a couple of weeks since I last posted. Turns out it’s been nearly a month. July’s always a little crazy for me. One of my day job’s biggest projects of the year hits its crescendo in mid-July, which means I spend a little over a week stressing and working overtime.

This year, I followed that up with a week of being sick. Nothing serious — but stress, extreme comfort eating and probably too much naproxen sodium aren’t great for the guts. One prescription for Nexium later and I’m doing just fine. I’m eating better, meditating again and just doing a better job of keeping on track. I even bought a new notebook to restart my bullet journal. Let’s do this!

What I’m working on: I jumped back in with something simple for the shop — some rustic ticking-style stripes.

I’m working on a new “product line.” I’m hoping to be able to launch a whole group of new printable products before the end of the month. It’s a little bit of an experiment, so we’ll see what happens. (I’m not telling what it is yet.)

What I’m reading: I’ve gotten just as behind on my reading as everything else, but I have started both Valley of the Dolls and Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. Both really good books that are just a tooooooouch depressing. I might have to throw something fun in the mix.

What I’m working on: I had a pretty productive week. I got some basic pattern packs up in the shop:

I’m going to shift focus for a little bit and work on some craft projects I’ve been ignoring for a while. Season 8 of Drag Race and the new season of Difficult People are coming to Hulu next week, so TV time will be knitting time.

What I’m watching: We watched the first episode of Harmonquest tonight. If you like table-top roleplaying, Dan Harmon and improv comedy… you’ll love Harmonquest.

What I’m reading: Since I finished our book club book, I got back to reading Secret Wars. It… was very silly. I mean… it was fine? Compared to the super-good X-Men books that were being published at the same time, it looks really dopey. But in a mostly fun way? Except that’s all ruined by the really dumb thing Colossus does. Secret Wars is the reason for his (editorially mandated, I believe?) breakup with Kitty.

See, Pete starts out his time on Battleworld missing Kitty and even thinking of marrying her one day. Then he meets and is healed by an alien lady named Zsaji. Zsaji does not speak a word of English, Russian or any Earth language and spends most of her time making out with Johnny Storm. It’s hinted that her healing powers make dudes fall in love with her. That has to be the case, because she has NO personality other than being pretty and healing. That’s enough for Peter Rasputin, I guess.

Anyway. Dr. Doom absorbs most of the Beyonder’s power and kills all the good guys. Zsaji uses her healing powers to bring Colossus back to life and dies in the process. (It’s heavily implied that she did this only due to the Beyonder’s influence.) He almost doesn’t go back to Earth because he’s so despondent over her sacrifice. The other X-Men tell him to stop being an idiot and get in the car, we’re leaving.

Meanwhile back in the X-Books, where people are written more like actual people than melodramatic caricatures, Pete breaks up with Kitty. And she handles it with AMAZING self-awareness for a 14-year-old. (That’s a poster of Tom Selleck in Kitty and Ilyana’s room. The 80’s were amazing.)

Luckily Kitty’s crazy Uncle Wolverine and Nightcrawler take Colossus out for a drink where they let the Juggernaut beat him up to teach him a lesson. This is exactly how this should have ended.

GOOD THING YOUR SKIN’S METAL BECAUSE YOU GOT BURNT.

Anyway. Yeah, the Colossus/Kitty thing was super appropriate as long as he was 19 and she was 14. It needed to end, but’s a little ironic that it ended with Colossus acting like an overly dramatic child and Kitty handling it like an adult.

I’m a couple days late with my check-in, but it’s because I’ve actually been busy — not lazy! Hooray!

What I’m working on: I started digging through a bunch of public domain maps and decided it was fertile ground for playing with textures and color. Instead of doing just one pack, I decided to make a few. This way buyers can be a little more location-specific with their vintage map designs.

What I’m reading: I finished up Truthwitch. I really enjoyed it. The next book in the series isn’t published until next year. Booooo. I’ve just started the third novel in the Neopolitan series and I’m sure it’ll be just as good as the first two. You know, as long as I can contain my rage at Nino Sarratore.

What I’m playing: I was able to be fairly productive this week despite playing a lot of Crusader Kings II. Thanks to the new expansion, you can now pass realm laws expanding the status of women. So I’m spending my time building a medieval feudal empire where women are allowed to lead and govern equally with men. I’m paving the way for Elizabeth I to be perfectly fine with having the heart and stomach of a queen.

Well, I skipped a check-in last week because I didn’t feel like I had much to check in about. This week I just plain forgot. So, let’s play catch up.

What I’m working on: I finally finished this shabby-chic-y looking rustic floral venture I’ve been working on.

I’m happy with it. The images all pre-1924 and come from my mom’s postcard collection. I’m excited about how cohesive they all look, despite not being a “matched set.”

What I’m reading: I finished The Bees, which I really enjoyed. I realized I have a lot of pre-19th century bee imagery, so watch out for bee designs in the future. I put a hold on our next book for book club at the library. While I’m waiting on that, I got back to the X-Men and finished up the end of the Brood Saga. Wherein Colossus admits (more or less) his feelings for Kitty, Lockheed makes his first appearance and Storm is that one player in the party who takes Chaotic Good entirely too seriously.